TGI survey shows "Globes" only paper to grow

The weekly exposure rate of the "Globes" daily edition had the highest growth rate, up 15% to 4.4% in the second half of 2009.

The weakening of Israel's print media is easing, according to the latest TGI survey of weekly exposure rates, published today. According to TGI, "Globes" is the only veteran newspaper whose weekly exposure rate was higher in the second half of 2009 than in the second half of 2008.

The weekly exposure rate of the "Globes" daily edition had the highest growth rate, up 15% to 4.4%. The weekly exposure rates of both "Yediot Ahronot" and "Ma'ariv" continued to decline, but less than in the past. "Haaretz saw its weekly exposure rate fall from 7.4% in the second half of 2008 to 6.6% in the second half of 2009. "Haaretz's" business supplement "TheMarker" also saw a drop in its weekly exposure rate from 7.8% to 7.6% over the same period.

Freesheet "Israel Today" continued to boost its weekly exposure rate, and is now the second most widely read paper, after "Yediot Ahronot". "Israel Today's" weekly exposure rate rose from 23.2% in the second half of 2008 to 26.6% in the second half of 2009.

"Yediot Ahronot" is still Israel's most widely read paper, although its weekly exposure rate fell to 33.9% in the second half of 2009 from 35.9% in the corresponding half of 2008. "Ma'ariv's" weekly exposure rate declined slightly to 13.6% from 13.8% over the same period.

For 2009 as a whole, "Globes" was the only veteran newspaper to see its weekly exposure rate increase, rising to 4.2% from 3.8% in 2008.

"Lady Globes" was one of the few weekly magazines to see an increase in its weekly exposure rate to 1.3% in 2009 from 1.2% in 2008. Women's magazine "Menta" and men's magazine "Blazer", both owned by "Yediot Ahronot", showed unusual strength last year. "TheMarker" weekly magazine's weekly exposure rate fell from 4% to 3.1%.

Among radio stations, Reshet Aleph's weekly exposure rate rose by 0.7% and Reshet Bet's weekly exposure rate was unchanged. Reshet Gimmel's weekly exposure rate fell to 12% from 13.7%. Reshet Bet was the most widely listened to radio station in 2009, with an average weekly exposure rate of 28.5% in 2009, with "Galgalatz" snapping at its heels with an average weekly exposure rate of 27.9%.